Ask the Author: Wayne Smallman
Answered Questions (6)
Wayne Smallman
Remembrance, a novella, came from a simple scene that sprung into being while I was out running.
I think it was, in part, derived from the scene in the movie Stand By Me, where the children stood over the corpse of the young man.
But the scene I had was different, in that it was a grave, and there were only two people.
As I began to think more about it, more began to emerge and the whole story self-assembled in a week or so.
I think it was, in part, derived from the scene in the movie Stand By Me, where the children stood over the corpse of the young man.
But the scene I had was different, in that it was a grave, and there were only two people.
As I began to think more about it, more began to emerge and the whole story self-assembled in a week or so.
Wayne Smallman
A lot of the ideas I have come from fragments (conversations I have, or overhear, things I read, or see) that self-assemble in my mind.
I read a lot of science literature, which is a boundless source of inspiration.
But I also find inspiration in dreams, too. Lucidity, for example, which is a novella I wrote a while ago, came to me almost complete as a dream.
I read a lot of science literature, which is a boundless source of inspiration.
But I also find inspiration in dreams, too. Lucidity, for example, which is a novella I wrote a while ago, came to me almost complete as a dream.
Wayne Smallman
Random chance was as instrumental in the emergence of biological life as it is in its continuation. But what if those same rules and laws of nature were applied to the digital realm?
Chaos Engine (a provisional title), a hard science fiction thriller, explores the emergence of an artificial intelligence — a digital organism — and how it makes sense of a world as alien to it as it is to us.
Its first "instinct" is one of self preservation.
Its first "emotion" is the fear of being discovered.
Oceanica, a science fiction thriller set in the distant future, follows a crew of marine salvage engineers as they arrive on the ice and water world of Oceanica to recover the contents of a sunken space freighter that wandered where it shouldn't have been.
Why was it there?
But on arrival, all is not as it seemed to be, or should have been. Mysteries abound, horrors await, and more questions than anyone dare ask.
Yet more surprises lurk in the frozen darkness.
Chaos Engine (a provisional title), a hard science fiction thriller, explores the emergence of an artificial intelligence — a digital organism — and how it makes sense of a world as alien to it as it is to us.
Its first "instinct" is one of self preservation.
Its first "emotion" is the fear of being discovered.
Oceanica, a science fiction thriller set in the distant future, follows a crew of marine salvage engineers as they arrive on the ice and water world of Oceanica to recover the contents of a sunken space freighter that wandered where it shouldn't have been.
Why was it there?
But on arrival, all is not as it seemed to be, or should have been. Mysteries abound, horrors await, and more questions than anyone dare ask.
Yet more surprises lurk in the frozen darkness.
Wayne Smallman
I'm a very critical reader.
The story has to be plausible, within the parameters of the genre. So if it's not plausible, failing that, give me characters who I can believe in.
If the characters are in a believable state of disbelief, the chances are, I am, too.
The story has to be plausible, within the parameters of the genre. So if it's not plausible, failing that, give me characters who I can believe in.
If the characters are in a believable state of disbelief, the chances are, I am, too.
Wayne Smallman
I prize learning, and as a writer I have the unique chance to be self-indulgent and learn those things that I find most fascinating — which is almost anything!
Wayne Smallman
I think writer's block means different things to different people.
Because I write hard science fiction, honing ideas that hinge on known or speculative scientific and technological concepts is, sometimes, a challenge.
Minimising the hand-waving is the part that — at times — drags on, breaks my stride, and soaks up the momentum.
Here, I switch to something else.
At the moment, I have 16 novels on the go at any one time.
I also run a business, so there's much to focus on there.
So I have options.
Or, if the weather is good, I go for a walk, or perhaps if the schedule is correct, a 10k run.
Because I write hard science fiction, honing ideas that hinge on known or speculative scientific and technological concepts is, sometimes, a challenge.
Minimising the hand-waving is the part that — at times — drags on, breaks my stride, and soaks up the momentum.
Here, I switch to something else.
At the moment, I have 16 novels on the go at any one time.
I also run a business, so there's much to focus on there.
So I have options.
Or, if the weather is good, I go for a walk, or perhaps if the schedule is correct, a 10k run.
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